Analyzing my favorite things

Documentaries

I love watching documentaries. I first got hooked back in high school when my friend Stephanie, who worked at the local Hollywood Video store, brought me home a copy of Spellbound. She knew I loved watching the spelling bee competition on TV (and was still secretly bitter that I had never won the school spelling bee growing up) and thought I would enjoy it (I loved it). Over the next few years, I watched as many documentaries as I could find in the Hollywood Video store and occasionally spent my meager college student money on a documentary I’d buy online after careful research. I think my first purchase was Promises and it’s still one of the best documentaries I’ve ever seen. The discovery of Netflix, though, was like a gold mine for a documentary lover like myself.

Below is a list of my top 25 favorites in no particular order:

Title

Topic

Promises

Interviews Jewish and Palestinian kids in Israel about their lives and the ongoing conflict and orchestrates a meeting between them. Oscar nominated film.

Jesus Camp

Films Evangelical kids in their homes, churches, and a Christian camp.

Spellbound

Follows several competitors vying for the title in the National Spelling Bee.

A Lion in the House

Films five children who have cancer and are at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital. Interviews their families and shows them outside of the hospital as well.

Flesh and Blood

An inside look at the Tom family in California, made up of matriarch Susan Tom and her brood of mostly adopted kids, many with challenges in their lives. The family was on Extreme Home Makeover a couple years after the documentary was made. This was a film that was much more captivating than I expected.

First Position

Follows several kids who are competing in an international ballet competition.

A State of Mind

Filmed inside of North Korea, films children as they prepare for a major show that the dictator will be present for.

For the Bible Tells Me So

An interesting look at Christianity and homosexuality

Children Underground

Films several homeless children in Romania

Word Play

Films several contestants in the national crossword puzzle tournament

The Queen of Versailles

Behind-the-scenes look at the family that’s building the largest home in America.

Make Believe

Films several amazingly good teen magicians

The Other Dream Team

A look inside of the history of Lithuania and their breaking away from the Soviet Union. Focuses on the basketball team that won bronze in the 1992 Olympics in basketball. I’m 1/4 Lithuanian, so I found this particularly interesting, especially since my grandfather was a very good basketball player and he bought the Grateful Dead t-shirts that were sold to raise money (you’ll see what I mean when you watch the film).

The Short Game

Films several kids aged 7-8 and interviews their families as they prepare and compete at the Kids World Golf Championship. The kids, which include Anna Kournikova’s younger brother, are adorable and very competitive.

Raising Cain

A fascinating look at raising boys today and how traditional schools may be doing things wrong

Born Into Brothels

Films several kids in India whose mothers work in brothels. The filmmakers gave the kids cameras and let them loose to film their lives.

Miss Representation

Investigates the media’s view of women and how women are defined by beauty and sexuality and not seen as potential leaders.

Which Way Home

Follows kids from Mexico and Honduras as they travel on top of trains and try to make their way across the border into the US.

Racing Dreams

A fascinating look at three kids aged 11-13 who compete nationally in go-kart racing.

Waiting for Superman

A look at America’s public educational system

Thin

Films women at a treatment facility for eating disorders.

The Business of Being Born

A hard look at giving birth in the United States.

God Grew Tired Of Us

Follows several “Lost Boys” of Sudan who move to the United States and adjust to life here in a different culture.

Chely Wright: Wish Me Away

Filmed over three years, a look inside Chely Wright’s life as she decides to come out publicly as the first gay country singer and worries about what fans will think.

The Hollywood Complex

A fascinating can’t-look-away doc about kids who want to be child actors in Hollywood and their parents who will do whatever it takes to help them succeed.